Egyptian Soldiers Killed in Sinai Attack

CAIRO — At least 11 Egyptian soldiers were killed on Wednesday after suicide bombers drove an explosives-laden car into a convoy of military buses traveling in the Sinai Peninsula, according to a spokesman for the armed forces.

At least 37 people were wounded in the attack, which struck soldiers who were returning from vacation, the military said.

Separately on Wednesday morning, unknown assailants threw an explosive device at a police checkpoint in the capital, and four police officers were hurt, the state news media reported.

The attacks were the latest in a campaign of almost daily violence by militants against soldiers and police officers that began in July, when the military ousted Egypt’s democratically elected Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi. Many of the attacks have occurred in the marginalized and relatively lawless Sinai, but militants have also struck at officials in Cairo, shaking the interim, military-backed government and raising fears of a prolonged insurgency.

In one of the most brazen attacks, on Sunday gunmen killed Lt. Col. Mohamed Mabrouk, a senior Egyptian security official who was responsible for investigating Muslim extremists, spraying his car with bullets as he drove to work. An extremist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday, saying it was retaliating for the arrests of women protesting the military takeover.

Photo

A man and child walked past a crater left by a suicide car bomb attack Wednesday on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish, Egypt.Credit
Ahmed Abu Deraa/Associated Press

A previously obscure group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has gained prominence with a series of bombings and shootings targeting security officers in the Sinai and Suez Canal area. The group also claimed responsibility for the attempted assassination of Egypt’s interior minister in a suicide bombing in Cairo two months ago. In statements and videos after the attacks, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has tried to win recruits by claiming to lead violent resistance against the military takeover.

After the attack on the interior minister, the group released a statement by the bomber saying that “iron must be fought with iron, and fire with fire.” On Tuesday, after the killing of Colonel Mabrouk, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis criticized “free and honorable” Egyptians for inaction.

“What are you waiting for, after your women were detained and your honor violated?” the group said, while warning it would hunt down other security officials, like Colonel Mabrouk, whom it blamed for the arrests of the women. “We are lying in wait for the likes of him,” the statement said.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s bombing. The military said that at about 7:45 a.m., two suicide bombers driving a Hyundai laden with explosives struck a convoy of four buses on the road between the towns of Rafah and Al-Arish.

The government declared three days of mourning for the soldiers who were killed, and the defense minister, Gen. Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, in rare public comments, vowed that the deaths “will only make us more determined.”

“People must know that we’re all ready to die so that Egypt remains,” he said.

Mayy el Sheikh contributed reporting from Cairo.

A version of this article appears in print on November 21, 2013, on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Egypt: Suicide Bombers Kill 11 Soldiers in Sinai. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe